Babies and RWA Chapter Meetings

First the great news...here's my brand-spanking new granddaughter Mia Grace. Isn't she beautiful?
Finally, I get to buy some cute pink things!




Saturday I went to our RWA chapter meeting and they were doing training on how to judge contest entries as opposed to critiquing a scene or chapter of a manuscript. I was very impressed with the fairness and the strictness of the guidelines. I can see that the judges will have to be on their toes all the time to keep their personal bias out of the judging.

Take for example, the heroine. The score sheet asks whether she is a clearly drawn, three-dimensional character with a unique voice...not if you like her. The trainer seemed to be having a little trouble impressing upon a couple of people the importance of remembering not to score according to whether they like the hero/heroine. A bit frightening for me to hear as a contest entrant.

The good news is I know for a fact that at least one of the judges is an inspirational/historical/western writer so maybe she will know where I'm coming from when she reads my entry. This is all new to me but so much fun!
I hope I still think it's fun after I've read my feedback. Eeek!

A Romance Lover's Imagination

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Archaeologists in Italy have dug up a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, who died locked in an embrace. My first thought is, "Awwwwwww..." My next thought is, "Man, I hope they don't 'unembrace' them!" How horrible would that be?

As a romance lover and a romance writer, this story captivates me. Immediately, my imagination starts spinning stories of how these eternal lovers came to meet their untimely end near the northern city of Mantua, Italy, a mere 25 miles south of Romeo and Juliette's city of Verona.

Just to satisfy my natural proclivity toward both romance and history, I think I'm going to have to sit down and write my own story of how these presumably young Neolithic sweethearts lived, loved and died together surrounded by flint tools and arrowheads.

I see them fleeing together after the young warrior saved his love who was being held captive by a rival tribe. After a long and treacherous flight trough the marshy countryside, the beautiful young girl falls from exhaustion. Her warrior love drops at her side, urging her to get up and run again but the enemy overtakes them and shoots an arrow into the warrior. Left for dead, they succumb to the elements, forever locked in each other's arms.

Ah, yes...I could think of a dozen other good scenarios. How about you?

Tomorrow, hopefully I'll have photos of my beautiful new granddaughter, Mia Grace, born February 5th.